Special Service and Features
Leverage technology to achieve common educational targets says Secretary Higher Education Sanjay Murthy
Seminar at IIT Madras: G20 members share experiences on using digital technologies to improve learning outcomes
The Education Working Group under the G20 Sherpa Track commenced its first meeting with a Seminar held at IIT Madras Research Park on the theme, ‘The Role of Digital Technologies in Education.’ The Seminar was organised by the Ministry of Education and the G20 Secretariat in close coordination with IIT Madras.
The Education Working Group during India’s G20 Presidency will focus on four priority areas including issues of Foundational Literacy and Numeracy, Tech-enabled learning, Future of work, and Research and innovation collaboration.
Apart from Chennai, India’s Presidency will see the Education Working Group further convening in the cities of Amritsar, and Bhubaneswar with the final Education Ministerial scheduled to be held in Pune.
Furthermore, during India’s G20 Presidency all meetings of the Education Working Group will feature seminars and exhibitions being held each of the four priority areas in addition to the formal deliberations under the Working Group. The idea is to enable theEducation Working Group to broad base its discussions with enriching inputs from sector experts and from all G20 member and invited countries. The exhibition on the side-lines is intended to make the sharing of best experiences more tangible and effective. An exhibition with 50 stalls was inaugurated at IIT Madras to showcase research, innovation and cutting edge technologies of the G20 countries.
In his inaugural address and presentation, Prof. V. Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras and Chairman, IITMRP talked about quality and equitable education for all and the challenges and best practices in G20 countries in the area of school education, higher education and skill development.
The keynote address was delivered by Shri K Sanjay Murthy, Secretary, Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education who said that all the G20 member countries need to collaborate to leverage technology further to achieve common educational targets. Secretary Murthy also separately chaired a session on ‘Providing accessible and equitable education for K-12 learners’.
Shri Atul Kumar Tiwari, Secretary, Skill Education, Government of India, chaired a session on ‘Emerging technologies to provide skill education and training’. The session underlined the need for hands-on training and experiential learning; integrating skill education into school and higher education
Sh. Anil Sahasrabudhe, Chairman, National Educational Technology Forum  chaired a session on ‘Enabling high-quality higher education learning opportunities at scale.’ This season focused on challenges with building bridge / foundation courses; enabling flexibility and achieving the desired learning outcome; and adopting technologies.
In his address Prof. Andrew Thangaraj, IIT Madras and SWAYAM, underlined the importance of ensuring universal access to higher education and the role of digital intervention, the need for happy learners and the need to equip the graduates with requisite skillsets.
The participants at the day long seminar included G20 members, guest countries, and international organizations besides representatives of select academic institutions in G20 member countries that are engaged in initiatives for promoting the use of digital technologies for ensuring quality learning opportunities for all and improving learning outcomes.
Representatives of international organizations such as UNESCO, UNICEF, World Bank, and OECD, among others were also taking part alongside representatives of knowledge partners from India.
The delegates of the G20 nations, guest countries and international organisations had an opportunity to tour the IIT Madras Campus, particularly the newly-revamped IIT Madras Heritage Centre which gave a glimpse of the evolution of the Institute over the years.
Delegates of the Working Group were also shown the cutting-edge research underway at IIT Madras’ Sudha Gopalakrishnan Brain Centre and the innovations happening at the student-run Centre for Innovation .
A number of specially curated cultural events were organised on the campus to showcase the rich cultural diversity of the nation.
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